DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Rings, such as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/463,240, filed on Aug. 8, 2006, and in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/706,022, filed on Aug. 8, 2005, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference, represent a new and powerful reconfiguration of existing telecommunication network resources.
Such rings enable higher bandwidths to be achieved at greater distances from a CO (Central Office). As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the transmission bandwidth of technologies such as DSL and Ethernet decreases with distance. In a star network architecture for instance, a DSLAM (DSL Access Multiplexer) is physically located in the middle, but the distance to each subscriber is often greater than the relatively short distance required for maximum bandwidth. DSL Rings greatly increase the distance and bandwidth-carrying capability of the ‘local loop’. High bandwidth is made available to households by reducing the transmission distance to the distance between households instead of the distance between households and COs. Maximum bandwidth can be obtained if the distance between households that are connected together is less than the maximum bandwidth distance.
Where households are separated by more than the maximum bandwidth distance, however, a DSL Ring might not be able to provide maximum bandwidth to all subscribers.